Standby for reroute

Cruising in clear air at high altitude, the Cessna Citation owner and his family were playing cards in back, and I was in touch with Miami Center on the way to Wilmington, North Carolina, to clear U.S. Customs. Some thunderstorms were building west of Wilmington, but I expected to land, clear customs, and take off on the last leg home to Maryland before the bad weather arrived. That’s when Miami told me to “Standby for a reroute.”

With pen in hand, I copied a new clearance that added hundreds of miles to this flight. Following it would mean arriving in Wilmington low on fuel about the same time as the storms. Bad idea. I told ATC of my plight, and they wouldn’t budge.

“OK, I’m declaring minimum fuel at this time,” I said. “And standby for an emergency declaration if I can’t find an alternate airport in the next 10 minutes.”

I delved into the flight management system and searched for airports with U.S. Customs facilities that had decent weather. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, and Savannah were all getting slammed with thunderstorms, and a few had hail and high winds, too. I had filed an eAPIS manifest with Wilmington as the destination. It was possible to change the destination and arrival time based on weather, but it wasn’t easy. I was about to declare a fuel emergency and proceed to Wilmington when ATC proposed an option I hadn’t considered. “How about Fort Pierce?” the controller asked. “It’s currently VFR.”

I checked the terminal aerodrome forecast for Fort Pierce, and it seemed the storms would stay away. I accepted the new destination and added it to my flight plan.

Multiple airplanes were being rerouted along the east coast of Florida because of staffing shortages at Jacksonville Center, which handles the oceanic routes. I landed in good weather at Fort Pierce Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR) and the customs clearance process went quickly. ATC had helped by informing U.S. Customs that we were coming. The Citation was refueled on the ramp, and I filed a flight plan to Maryland. I started the Citation and picked up the IFR clearance—it was another freakishly roundabout route that sent us south to Miami, up the west coast of Florida to Atlanta before turning northeast. The weather along that route showed storms and heavy rain for miles.

I took off and headed to Miami, and ATC quickly thought better of it. They directed me up the east coast of Florida on a turbulent but relatively direct route. The airliners and corporate jets there were all getting knocked around and the crews were begging for deviations that were mostly denied. Radar showed the weather over the ocean was clear and mild, but there are no controllers covering those sectors. Once we made it beyond troubled Jacksonville, conditions gradually improved. It had been a long flying day
covering more than 2,000 miles of blue ocean and it
ended at home in Maryland.

Pilots are accustomed to dealing with changing weather and schedules as well as mechanical issues. But ATC outages and staffing problems are impossible to plan around, and their complications and dangers are every bit as real as weather or aircraft malfunctions. Pilots are reluctant to declare emergencies. I know I am. But if given the chance for a do-over on this one, I’d do it and head straight to Wilmington as originally cleared. It seems more than justifiable in retrospect.

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